Apparatus for washing textile materials such as unfinished wools, etc.



July 25, 1967 .1. SCHMITZ 3,332,258

APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC.

Filed Jan 3 O l 9 6 4 6 S h e e t s S h e e t l Ma /W July 25, 1967 J. HMITZ 3,332,258

APPARATUS FOR WASHI TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC.

Filed Jan. 30, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 47" TOP V5) July 25, 1967 .1. SCHMITZ 3,332,258

APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC. Filed Jan. 50, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 July 25, 1967 J. SCHMITZ 3,332,258

APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC. Filed Jan. 30, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 MA'W J. SCHMITZ 3,332,258 APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH Jul 25, 1967 AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC. Filed Jan. 30, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 'MAM July 25. 1967 .1. SCHMITZ 3,332,

APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS ETC. Filed Jan. (50, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 //v 1/5/1/ 7-0? MHZ-13055 SCH/ I 7'2:

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United States Patent 3,332,253 APPARATUS FOR WASHING TEXTILE MATERIALS SUCH AS UNFINISHED WOOLS, ETC. Jacques Schmitz, Solwaster 84, Sart-lez-Spa, Belgium Filed Jan. 30, 1964, Scr. No. 341,214 Claims priority, application Belgium, Feb. 5, 1963, 6 ,037 9 Claims. (Cl. 689) This invention relates to an apparatus for washing textile materials such as unfinished wools and threads. The apparatus according to this invention can also be used for carbonising or bleaching textile materials.

According to this invention there is provided an apparatus for treating suchas Washing, carbonising and bleaching textile and similar material such as untreated wools and threads in which the material to be treated is passed on a conveyor through a series of vats, treated in each vat with a cleaned liquid and means for removing from the vats liquid soiled with impurities such as earth, sand and vegetable materials obtained from the treatment of the material in the vats so that the impure liquid does not mix with clean liquid.

The apparatus according to this invention has the advantage that the Woolen or other textile material fibres are neither matted together nor entangled. It is particularly in the subsequent treatments of the wool that this advantage will become apparent. It has been found that since the carders do not have to break up matted and entangled fibres, they will operate more effectively, causing less rupture of the fibres. Further, subsequent use of combing machines will be more effective since there will be fewer short fibres to comb out from the material and thus combing may be carried out more rapidly. At the same time less combings result and a combed product of more regular length containing fewer short fibres is produced.

The invention further comprises an apparatus for treating textile and similar materials comprising a vat, a conveyor for conveying material to be treated through the vat, a rotatable drum located in the vat and positioned above the conveyor, the drum including a number of external projections cooperable with the conveyor, each projection forming compartments having a wall facing the direction of rotation in the form of a grill and means for rotating the drum.

According to one form of this invention an apparatus comprises a vat, a conveyor band for conveying material to be treated through the vat, a rotatable drum located in the vat and positioned above the conveyor band, the drum including a number of axially extending external projections cooperable with the conveyor band so that during rotation of the drum the projections impart tension to the band each projection forming a compartment having a wall facing the direction of rotation in the form of a grill permitting a treating liquid to enter the compartment and means for rotating the drum.

Preferably the drum includes end plates having a diameter greater than that of the drum and between which the conveyor hand is located, one of the end plates having apertures corresponding in position with the axially extending projections afiording communication with the compartments. Conveniently, the axially extending external projections are triangular in section and each projection includes a ridge at a position remote from the drum to facilitate the entrainment of the material.

In an installation for washing textile materials/such as untreated wools, the invention is carried out using a number of vats in series. In one form such an installation may comprise a number of vats arranged in series, a conveyor band for conveying material to be treated successively through the vats, primary pressing means located between adjacent vats through which means the conveyor band passes; a number of rotatable drums located in each vat and positioned above the conveyor hand, each drum including a number of axially extending projections c0- operable with the conveyor band so that, during rotation of the drums, the projections impart tension to the conveyor band, each projection forming a compartment having a grill-like wall facing the direction of rotation, a chamber for collection of liquid from the compartments, means for controlling flow of liquid from the compartmerits to the chamber and means for rotating the drums; a decanting device for each vat for the liquid which has been used for treating including a number of collectors, each collector including a valve operated decanter and a receiver designed to collect impurities extracted from the liquid, means for connecting the first collector with the said chamber into which liquid from the compartments is collected and means for recycling liquid cleansed in the decanting device from the last collector to the vats. The axes of the drums are conveniently mounted to coincide with the level of liquid in the vats.

In a modified form of the washing installation the liquid level in the vats is slightly above the drum shafts. Preferably, the drums are hollow and means are provided affording communication between the compartments and the shaft so that liquid from the compartments is emptied through the hollow shaft into a suitable funnel, the funnel from each apparatus being connected to a common collector from which the liquid and the liquid residues are conveyed to a series of decanters.

Various forms of washing apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be particularly described by way of example only with reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of a drum of star-shaped section for use with a washing apparatus according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic sectional front view of a vat including several drums as shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic sectional end view of the vat;

FIGURE 4 is a similar section to FIGURE 3 taken on line 44 in FIGURE 5 showing a modified embodiment;

FIGURE 5 is a scrap perspective of a star-shaped drum according to the modified embodiment of FIGURE 4, and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic front sectional view of a vat with five elements provided with an improved decanting system.

FIGURE 7 illustrates a modified form of the drum according to the invention and FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 are enlarged views of the decanters and double valves therein in various positions, as employed in the invention.

Referring to FIGURES l and 2 the washing apparatus comprises a number of washing vats 10 arranged in series and each including a number of drums 1- having a starshaped section mounted on a shaft 2. Each projection 3 of the star constitutes a triangular compartment with a bottom partition 4, a wall 5 and a wall 6 in the form of a grating. The grating wall 6 of each projection forms the anterior wall for the said compartment in the sense of rotation of the drum. This grating is appropriately constructed of bars of glass, synthetic resin, stainless steel or the like. The grating may also be made from an expanded or a perforated metal sheet. From FIGURE 1 .it will be seen that the drum has two end plates 7 and 8 of greater diameter than the drum. The plate 7 serves to seal one end of the drum whereas the plate 8 has a number of apertures 9 defined by edges 4, 5' and 6' of partition 4 and walls 5 and 6 corresponding in position with the projections and affording communication with the compartments.

The bottom wall 4 of the compartments 3 is inclined downwardly towards the apertures 9 in the plate 8 so that liquid in the compartments will naturally drain towards the apertures. The apertures 9 are fitted with suitable closure means adjusted by a valve 19 so that the quantity of liquid flowing through apertures may be regulated.

In the example given the rotary drum is star-shaped in section, but it is to be understood that a drum according to the invention may have other forms of projections on its circumference and forming grill-like walled compartments.

To carry out the invention there is provided, according to FIGURE 1, a washing installation comprising a number of washing vats 10 one of which is shown in FIG- URE 6 supplied with hot soapy water and having a conveyor band 11 located to transfer material to be treated successively through the bats. The washing vats are preceded by a prewashing vat and followed by a rinsing vat (not shown in the drawing). A usual washing column consists of five consecutive tubs, one for prewashing, three for washing and one for rinsing. The number of tubs may be varied. In each washing vat 10 are mounted a number of drums 1 as shown in FIGURE 1. Each drum is located above the conveyor band 11 and between adjacent drums there is disposed at secondary press or system of roller presses 12 through which the conveyor band 11 is threaded. A tensioning device 13 (FIGURE 2) enables the tension in the conveyor band to be adjusted as desired.

The rotary drums 1 are placed in the washing vat 10 so that their axes 2 coincide with the liquid level X-Y (FIGURE 2) which is maintained substantially constant so that the lower half of the rotary drums are below the liquid level. As seen from FIGURE 2 this liquid level XY is slightly higher than the point at which the pressure is applied in the secondary roller presses 12 and consequently the material being treated does not leave the bath in the area of the presses.

The width of the conveyor band 11 and the length of the rotary drums 1 between the end plates 7 and 8 are such that the end plates grip the said conveyor band which is displaced downwardly and held taut by the parts of the projections 3 remote from the axes of the rotary drums.

Each washing vat 10 contains drive means 42 for rotating the drums 1. These drive means are disposed at the side of the vats adjacent the end plates 7 and a decanting vat 14 (FIGURE 3) is arranged along the whole length of the washing vat adjacent the perforated end plates 8. The decanting vat 14 is delimited at one side by a longitudinal wall 15 of the vat 10 and at the other side by a curved wall 16 which extends from the bottom of the vat upwardly to a position behind the end plates 8.

It will not be assumed for the sake of the description that a washing vat 10 is filled with liquid to the level XY and that FIGURE 2 shows schematically a washing vat which constitutes the first vat of an installation; this may be regarded as the prewashing vat supplied only with cold water. It will further be assumed that the installation comprises another four vats of which the next three vats are used for the washing process per se and contain hot water and soap, and the last vat is used for rinsing. The water from the rinsing vat is recycled through the communicating receptacles into the prewashing vat. Each vat is separated from the preceding vat by a primary press of known construction (not shown). The untreated material is introduced into the vat 10 by a suitably designed feed device 17 and carried through the vat by the conveyor band 11 where it comes into contact with the surface of the grating 6 of a compartment 3 presenting itself to the material at that moment on the first rotating drum 1. During passage of the material through the vat impurities are extracted from the material by action of the liquid and fall with the used liquid into the compartment 3 under consideration. At the moment when this quantity of material passes with the band 11 between the appropriate primary roller press 12, this compartment 3 rises above the liquid level so that the used liquid together with the impurities flows from the said compartment through the corresponding aperture 9 of the plate 8 and out of the drum into the chamber or decanting vat 14.

This compartment 3 operates in the same way as all the other compartments 3. Similarly, the process of discharging liquid from a drum 1 is the same for all the drums in a washing vat 10 and in all the other washing vats 10 of the installation.

It will be noted that in such an installation, the liquid which has been used to wash a certain quantity of material carried over the grill-like wall of a compartment is automatically emptied from the bath and does not come into contact with the next batch of material which is carried over the grating of the next compartment.

The construction of a drum 1 as described above may be modified without going outside the scope of the invention. Thus, the compartments in a drum may be closed at both ends and the bottom wall provided with an aperture to connect the compartment to a duct or channel located coaxially with the axis of the drum to empty the used water and the impurities. The installation described above has been given by way of example and it is to be understood that it may be modified without leaving the scope of the invention. Further, the drum 1 could be provided at each end with a perforated plate such as 8 so that the used water and impurities could leave the compartments 3 at each end to be emptied into a chamber or a decanter such as 14. Moreover, the drum 1 could be so modified that the rate of outflow of used water is adjustable and further, the ends of the compartments 3 could be made closable over one part of their course through the liquid by a valve device or the like.

A modified embodiment of an apparatus and installation according to the invention is shown in FIGURES 4 to 6.

In this embodiment the liquid level X'Y is slightly above the axes of the drums whereas the liquid level X-Y (FIGURES 2 and 3) is coincident with the axes of the drums. In this modified embodiment used liquid flows from compartments 3' and 3" into a chamber 18 which forms the front wall of the washing apparatus. As shown in FIGURE 4, the compartments are sealed at their two ends but the left-hand end is fitted with valves 19 designed for emptying one or more of the compartments at a suitable moment. The valves 19 are connected by a bar 20 and a spring 21 to a fixed cam 22 designed to open the appropriate compartment.

The liquid is emptied from the chamber 18 into a funnel 23 through the hollow shaft 2'. In FIGURE 6 there are five star-shaped drums for each washing vat and five funnels 23 are provided outside the vat. These funnels are connected by a duct 24 which slopes downwardly and pours the liquid into a first collector 25 which also receives at 26 the water and residue from a primary heavy press 27 situated between two adjacent vats. The collector 25 had a relatively large volume and the liquid circulates in it slowly to allow sludge B to settle to the bottom where there is a first decanter 28 with double valve 29 which is adjusted so that the sludge forms a plug at the inlet to the decanter, thus preventing loss of, in the case of washing, hot soapy water.

When the liquid has been decanted a first time, it rises towards a duct 30 in which it descends by gravity to the other end below the vat into a second collector 31 provided at the bottom with a second decanter 32 similar to the first. After a second decanting, the liquid freed from sludge rises again to the surface of the said collector 31 and it is emptied through a duct 33 into a third collector 34 similarly provided with a decanter 35. This third collector is provided in its upper part with a receiver 36 for collecting the emulsion of fat and wool grease produced by a suitable device in the collector 34 so that the fat becomes very light and double the volume and rises above the liquid to the receiver 36 from where it is collected by an outlet duct 37.

The liquid which is now substantially free of impurities leaves the decreasing collector 34 at 38 to enter the vat and be recycled. The washing vat serves as fourth decanter since the water which is recycled there loses the minute particles of impurities possibly still remaining in it as it rises to the surface.

The deposits of impurities are removed from the collectors at the rate at which they accumulate by means of valve devices aided by level indicators 39 which project from the collectors and control the valves.

FIGURE 6 shows a vat with the decanting system described above but the liquid can be collected from three washing vats and thus from star-shaped washing apparatuses into one and the same decanting device. In a conventional five-vat installation, the first or pre-washing vat and the fifth or rinsing vat do not require decanters since these are needed only for washing vats carrying hot soapy water.

The washing of untreated wools in an installation according to the invention, termed washing with movable base and false base, is carried out with water purified by decanting to the highest degree. The advantage of wools washed in clean water free from any sediment, fat or grease becomes evident particularly in dye WOIkS. Another advantage of this installation is that it is possible with this installation to wash a small batch of untreated wool and even a quantity, for example, of 1 kg. so that the exact yield can be determined. The wool does not become entangled as in stretching devices and does not felt even at high temperature. The teasels are kept in position and the carding can afterwards remove them without breaking the fibres and without leaving teasels in the wool, so that the process of carding can be speeded up. All the material is treated and no wool waste is left. The last kilogram of wool as the first continuously re ceives clean water so that a really white wool is obtained at the end of the operation since the water used is decanted to the maximum possible extent and the impurities removed, and the sediment can advantageously be used as organic fertilizers rich in nitrogen andpotassium while the fats can be used for the manufacture of soaps or in the pharmaceutical industry.

In a washing installation according to the invention, in which the star-shaped compartments of the washing apparatuses have the dimensions 22 -cm./1 m. and work is carried out with 1 kg. of wool per square metre, 4 litres of water are evacuated into the decanters for every A kg. of wool at the moment when the star-shaped compartment leaves the liquid level. Assuming that the installation comprises three washing vats each with five starshaped apparatuses, 60 litres are used per kg. of wool or 240 litres per kg. of wool plus the water with impurities from the heavy presses.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for treating textile and similar materials comprising a vat, a conveyor band for conveying material to be washed through the vat, a rotatable drum located in the vat and positioned above the conveyor, the drum including a number of external projections extending the length of said drum and engaging with said conveyor for imparting tension thereto, each projection forming a compartment having a wall facing the direction of 6 rotation in the form of a grill and means for rotating the drum.

2. An apparatus for treating textile and similar materials comprising a vat, a conveyor band for conveying material to be washed through the vat, a rotatable drum located in the vat and positioned above the conveyor band, the drum including a number of axially extending external projections engaging with the conveyor band so that during rotation of the drum the projections impart tension to the band, each projection forming a compartment having a wall facing the direction of rotation in the form of a grill permitting a treating liquid to enter the compartment and means for rotating the drum.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 including solid end plates for the drum having a diameter greater than that of the drum and between which the conveyor band is located and means atfording communication between the compartments and a duct disposed within the drum.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the duct is coaxial with the drum.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which the axially extending external projections are triangular in section so that the transverse section of the drum resembles a star.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5 including a decanting vat bounded by a wall of the washing vat and by a wall extending from the base of the washing vat to a position adjacent one of the end plates.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6 in which the end plates grip the edges of the conveyor band and in which the axis of rotation of the drum is below the level of liquid used in the vat.

8. An apparatus for treating textile and similar materials comprising a number of vats arranged in series, a conveyor band for conveying material to be treated successively through the vats, primary pressing mean-s located between adjacent vats through which means the conveyor band passes; a number of rotatable drums located in each vat and positioned above the conveyor band, each drum including a number of axially extending projections cooperable with the conveyor band so that, during rotation of the drums, the projections impart tension to the conveyor band, each projection forming a compartment having a grill-like wall facing the direction of rotation, a chamber for collection of liquid from the compartments, means for controlling flow of liquid from the compartments to the chamber and means for rotating the drums, at decanting device for each washing vat for the liquid which has been used for treating the material including a number of collectors, each collector including a valve operated decanter and a receiver designed to collect impurities extracted from the liquid, means for connecting the first collector with the said chamber into which liquid from the compartments is collected and means for recycling liquid cleansed in the decanting device from the last collector to the vats.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8 in which each decanting device comprises three collectors and three decanters.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 79,935 7/1868 Andrews 68-158 1,354,081 9/1920 Walker 68-22 X 1,432,318 10/1922 Brandwood et a1. 8156 1,537,720 5/1925 White et al. 68-158 2,037,841 4/1936 Windle 68-458 2,737,435 3/1956 Borck 8-156 2,892,462 6/1959 Ine 68-15'8 X IRV-ING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR TREATING TEXTILE AND SIMILAR MATERIALS COMPRISING A VAT, A CONVEYOR BAND FOR CONVEYING MATERIAL TO BE WASHED THROUGH THE VAT, A ROTATABLE DRUM LOCATED IN THE VAT AND POSITIONED ABOVE THE CONVEYOR, THE DRUM INCLUDING A NUMBER OF EXTERNAL PROJECTIONS EXTENDING THE LENGTH OF SAID DRUM AND ENGAGING WITH SAID CONVEYOR FOR IMPARTING TENSION THERETO, EACH PROJECTION FORMING A COMPARTMENT HAVING A WALL FACING THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION IN THE FORM OF A GRILL AND MEANS FOR ROTATING THE DRUM. 